South Mountain Preserve is Hub for Hikers, Cyclists

May 18, 2011 By 1 Comment
View from Dobbins Lookout at South Mountain Preserve

South Mountain Preserve, one of the nation’s largest municipal parks, offers outdoor enthusiasts a quick and easy escape from the daily grind. It boasts 16,000 acres of desert wilderness, just a short 10-minute drive from downtown Phoenix.

The preserve encompasses three mountain ranges: Ma Ha Tauk, Gila and Guadalupe. It’s believed the ancient Hohokam Indians settled this area thousands of years ago. Remnants of stone ruins and petroglyphs – or ancient rock carvings – are still visible today.

Starting in 1935, the region was developed into a recreational mecca with multi-use trails, picnic spots and scenic viewing areas. The master plan was spearheaded by the National Park Service utilizing President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps. Many of the structures built during this era still exist.

Today, the park features more than 50 miles of trails and numerous picnic areas.

Filed Under: Recreation, Valley of the Sun Tagged With: , , , , ,

Geronimo’s Face In the Rocks

March 1, 2011 By 2 Comments
08 chiri

Geronimo, the fierce Apache chief, is depicted in may ways both in Arizona and around the nation. His image is on everything from T-shirts to books about the Wild Wild West. But none is more enduring than his image in the Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona. It’s made of rocks.

The face is a profile and takes a bit of imagination to recognize it, but once you spot the nose, chin and forehead, everything becomes clear and there he is. It’s one of many rock formations found in the monument, located about 32 miles south of Willcox off State Route 186.

Filed Under: Odd Observations Tagged With: , , ,

Navajo Legend of Monument Valley

September 19, 2010 By 2 Comments
Monument Valley

Geologists like to say this vast land of dramatic salmon hued sandstone spires was once buried 3,000 feet beneath ancient seas. Over the next several million years, layer after layer of sediments were deposited, then hardened, followed by an uplifting of the land. It’s difficult to imagine, but the tops of these mountains and spires were, at one time, ground level. As the land continued to rise and the sea abated, the forces of wind, rain and time, or simply said, the rough hand of nature etched and sculpted the spectacular sandstone monoliths that we call Monument Valley.

Anthropologists generally agree that the people we call Navajo came to North America some 6,000 years ago over a land bridge on the Bering Strait. They go on to say these people drifted down from Canada and began to settle in Monument Valley about 500 years ago.

Filed Under: Natural Surroundings, Northern Arizona Tagged With: , , , ,

Weaver’s Needle and the Deadly Gold of the Superstitions

August 27, 2010 By 2 Comments
Weaver's Needle, Superstition Mountains

Since 1870, when stories about the Lost Dutchman Mine in the Superstition Mountains became a standard item in Arizona folklore, some 40 people have either disappeared or been found dead in and around the suspected location of the mine. The stories about the fabulously wealthy cache of gold supposedly hidden in the mountains are many and varied, but there’s always once constant — Weavers Needle.

Filed Under: Natural Surroundings, Odd Observations Tagged With: , , ,

The Hoo-Doos of the Chiricahua Monument

April 8, 2010 By 2 Comments
06 chiri

The Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona is one of my favorite places because of the spectacular rocks. Officially, they’re the result of the Turkey Creek volcanic eruption that occurred more than 27 million years ago, but I look at the formations and think of cartoon characters (one looks like a giant mouse) and crinkly spires that resemble giant trolls waiting to pounce upon the unwary traveler and demand coinage for safe passage.

Filed Under: Natural Surroundings, Southern Arizona Tagged With: ,
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